Charges against ex-Bishop Carroll basketball coach dismissed

Prosecutors have dismissed felony theft and making false information charges against Bishop Carroll former boys basketball coach Gary Cundiff over accusations he stole more than $26,000 from a company he was involved in and then falsified financial statements as a coverup.

The announcement came from Cundiff in an e-mail to The Wichita Eagle late Wednesday morning. A notation and judgment document in his court file confirms the dismissal occurred Tuesday.

“After several months, the two parties have resolved the dispute,” Cundiff said in the e-mail.

The Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office didn’t immediately comment on Cundiff’s announcement. But in a written statement provided Wednesday afternoon, it said the decision to dismiss the charges “was driven by several factors,” including the return of a “significant sum” of the cash in question.

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That Cundiff likely would have ended up on probation if convicted also led the victim in the case to ask for a dismissal, the office said.

Prosecutors dismissed the case “without prejudice,” meaning it can be refiled later. Cundiff had been scheduled to appear in court on the matter Wednesday morning.

Cundiff was accused of stealing from Wave Array Science, a local company registered under Cundiff’s home address, after his business partner, Robert Steinmetz, filed an embezzlement report with the Wichita Police Department on March 28. Cundiff was formally charged in August.

Cundiff denied wrongdoing throughout the case and called the matter “an internal business argument” that “went bad.”

The allegations led to his suspension from his coaching duties at Carroll, a Catholic high school in Wichita, earlier this month. He later resigned.

Cundiff, in his e-mailed statement, said that although he felt confident the case would be resolved in his favor, he decided it was best “to step aside, removing any possible distractions for the basketball program.”

“I deeply regret and am saddened that this situation precluded me from leading the young men in the Bishop Carroll basketball program,” he said.

Carroll opens its season on Friday under the leadership of Mike Domnick, who was named full-time coach in the wake of Cundiff’s resignation.